Such disorders are generally provoked by the presence, on the inner walls of the canal, of deposits causing strictures or stenoses in said canal.
The treatment of such disorders generally calls for the use of a dilatation catheter for restoring the normal flowing section of the canal at the level of the stenosis by compression with the aid of a balloon.
A guide, normally produced in the form of a wire is used for helping the catheter to reach the stenosis.
The guide-wire is generally longer than the catheter, typically by about 20 to 50 cm, in order to urge the catheter forward into the body canal, by sliding it along the wire.
For correctly positioning the balloon at the level of the stenosis, it is necessary to bring the distal end of the catheter to beyond said stenosis.
Understandably, for the catheter to pass through the stenosis, it is generally necessary to apply a thrusting pressure on the latter.
Said thrusting pressure is exerted by the practitioner at the level of the proximal end of the catheter.
Transmission of said thrusting pressure to the distal end of the catheter raises a problem which, heretofore, has not been solved satisfactorily.